About Us

Connecting Worlds, Creating Impact

About

Overview

EFA Group is an independent asset manager specializing in private debt strategies, with a focus on real economy businesses.

Established in 2003 in Singapore, the Group has since expanded in size and capabilities, and now employs over 60 personnel between its offices in Singapore, Geneva, Dubai, Istanbul and London.

At EFA Group, we set ourselves apart through our relationship-based approach: our deep understanding and close working ties with our investors and portfolio of borrowers is the cornerstone of our success.

By providing solutions and services always based on the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises, we create consistent value and sustainable performance for our investors.

We are regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Dubai Financial Services Authority under EuroFin Investments Pte Ltd.

US $4 billion

> 300

Mission

To bridge the gap between investors seeking stable income and businesses seeking alternative sources of capital

Vision

To create meaningful impact on businesses and livelihoods through financing

EFA Culture

Passion for Business

We make it happen

Teamwork

We work better together

Diversity

We embrace differences

Philosophy

Our Investment Philosophy

These factors define our investment philosophy:

Real Economy Expertise

Our business operates at the heart of the real economy. A dedicated sectorial focus has leveraged our growth from regional leader to international pacesetter offering best-in-class performance. Thanks to our capable global network, industry expertise and long-term working partnerships, we have access to unique and captive deal flows.

Alignment of Interests

We believe strongly in the importance of aligning our interests with our investors. Primary to that belief is systematic co-investing by our Partners alongside our investors, which demonstrates our conviction in our own solutions.

Responsible Investing

Financial sustainability and social responsibility go hand-in-hand. We support businesses that prioritize and excel in both.

Board of Directors

Board of Directors

Christian Stauffer

Mr Christian Stauffer founded EFA Group in 2003, and spearheaded its growth into an independent specialty finance firm. Mr Stauffer has more than 25 years experience in trade finance, structured finance, and commodities trading.

Before setting up EFA, Mr Stauffer was a Director at Noble Trade Finance Limited and Deputy Group Treasurer of Noble Group. Prior to this, Mr Stauffer was Managing Director of FINCO Asia, the merchant-banking subsidiary of Andre Group, based in Singapore and Beijing.

Francois Dotta

As Chief Executive Officer, Mr Dotta spearheads the Group’s investment strategies, and is responsible for charting the overall organizational direction. He is also one of the founding partners of EFA Group.

He has over 12 years experience in private debt, global trade and commodity finance and asset management. Prior to EFA, he was with Pricewaterhouse Coopers in France. Mr Dotta has a Masters in Management from Skema Business School in France and a Master of Business and Administration from the Asian Institute of Technology. He is also a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).

Philippe Damas

Mr Damas was formerly the CEO of ING Retail Banking Asia, ING Private Banking and ING Trust. As Head of Asia, he spearheaded the strategic acquisition of a 20% share in Bank of Beijing and a 30% share in TMB in Bangkok.

Prior to this, Mr Damas was the CEO of ING UK/Barings. He joined ING in 1999 after 20 years with JP Morgan, where he was last Head of Asset Management and Private Banking in Asia.

Team

Our Management Team

Francois Dotta

Chief Executive Officer | Chairman, Executive Committee

As Chief Executive Officer, Mr Dotta spearheads the Group’s investment strategies, and is responsible for charting the overall organizational direction. He is also one of the founding partners of EFA Group.

He has over 12 years experience in private debt, global trade and commodity finance and asset management. Prior to EFA, he was with Pricewaterhouse Coopers in France. Mr Dotta has a Masters in Management from Skema Business School in France and a Master of Business and Administration from the Asian Institute of Technology. He is also a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).

Julien Jobard

Chief Financial Officer | Member, Executive Committee

Mr Jobard is responsible for the Group’s accounting, audit and financial management functions.

He has over 11 years of experience in management, corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions in France and across Europe. His earlier career included working as a senior associate at a leading French M&A firm. In 2010, he co-founded a technology start-up specializing in digital interactive marketing where he headed the finance, human resources, legal and sales management teams. Prior to joining EFA, he was a financial and strategic consultant where he provided counsel on business development and financial strategies to corporations in various sectors including investment banking, asset management, pharmaceuticals and industrials.

He holds a Specialized Master in Finance from ESCP Europe, Paris and has a degree majoring in Financial Markets from SKEMA European School of Management.

Clement Schappler

Mr Schappler is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Risk Officer for EFA Group. As COO, he has oversight on the investment processes, standard operating procedures, portfolio reporting and fund operations across the Group.

As Chief Risk Officer, Mr Schappler is responsible for the Group’s credit, portfolio, and transactional risk management and reporting, and manages various risk-related projects across all business units.

Mr Schappler has ten years experience in corporate finance, investment banking and wealth management with UBS and Credit Suisse. Before joining EFA, Mr Schappler was a Director with UBS in Switzerland where he originated and executed several M&A transactions across sectors and geographies.

Mr Schappler has a BS in Business Administration from the University of Geneva.

April Raimundo-Obnial

Chief Legal and Compliance Officer | Member, Executive Committee

Ms Raimundo is Chief Legal and Compliance Officer of EFA Group and is responsible for all legal matters including business and investment structuring, corporate and fund set up and other legal issues across all countries where EFA does business. She was the first legal counsel of EFA and set up the legal and compliance platform of EFA through an accelerated growth period.

She was named one of five in-house lawyers in the 2016 edition of ALBs 40 Under 40 legal minds in Asia and her team was shortlisted as banking and financial services in house team of the year in the ALB SEA Law Awards 2016 and 2017.

Ms Raimundo is a dual-qualified lawyer, as an Attorney at Law admitted at the Supreme Court of the Philippines as well as a Solicitor in the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Prior to joining EFA Group, she was an Associate at Baker & McKenzie International. She has a Juris Doctor degree from the University of the Philippines College of Law where she graduated at the top of her class and was awarded the Dean’s Medal for Academic Excellence. She also has a BS in Legal Management from the Ateneo de Manila University.

Dominik Oggenfuss

Head of Investor Relations | Member, Executive Committee

Mr Oggenfuss heads the investor relations team at EFA Group and is responsible for sales and investor relations globally.

Mr Oggenfuss started his career at the investment bank of JP Morgan in London, where he was working in financial and market risk reporting. He moved to JP Morgan Private bank in Geneva in 2007 where he was co-leading the Family Office and Swiss Onshore team and went on to build up the JP Morgan Private Bank Office in Zurich. Prior to joining EFA Group, he moved to UBS Singapore as an Executive Director in the European Offshore Team.

He studied at the HEI Geneva and University of Zurich and holds a Masters Degree in Political Science and Political Economy.

Deep Singh

Head of Investments | Member, Executive Committee

Mr Singh is the Head of Investments at EFA Group and is a key member of the Investment Committee for all the Group’s Funds. He is responsible for monitoring the investments performance and optimizing returns across EFA’s portfolio of funds. He also takes the dual role as Portfolio Manager for the EFA Private Debt Opportunity Fund.

Mr Singh started his career in industry, working at Coca Cola for several years before transitioning into banking and finance. He worked at ANZ Banking Group and Bank of America Merrill Lynch and was most recently the Head of Structured Trade & Loan Distribution. As the Head of APAC in this role, he oversaw a $12 billion loan book.

Mr Singh studied at RMIT University to gain a Bachelors in International Business, followed by time at Monash University where he pursued his Juris Doctor. Mr Singh is also an Alumni of Harvard Business School where he graduated from the Program for Leadership Development – the school’s Executive MBA program.

Kamran Yousuf

Head, Structured Trade & Commodity Finance

As Co-Head of Structured Trade & Commodity Finance, Mr Yousuf is responsible for the origination and structuring of our trade finance deal flows, and manages the team of relationship managers in the Singapore and Dubai origination hubs.

He is also the Senior Executive Officer of EFA’s office in Dubai. Prior to this, he was based in the Singapore office, handling origination of business leads, structuring commodity and trade finance facilities and managing client relationships in Southeast Asia.

He has over 10 years of experience in banking and corporate sector and has held various roles in credit, corporate banking and structured trade & commodity finance. Previously he has worked with Standard Chartered Bank and BASF.

Mr Yousuf graduated with an MBA (Finance) from Institute of Business Administration, Karachi. He also has a Masters Degree in Project Management from the National University of Singapore.

Alexandre Vieira

Head, Structured Commodity Trade Finance

Mr Vieira is the Head of Structured Commodity Trade Finance and has over 18 years of experience in structured commodity finance. Prior to EFA, he held senior positions in Paris, Sao Paulo and Geneva in the Commodity Finance franchises of Natixis, ING and Galena Asset Management.

Mr. Vieira graduated from EDHEC Business School with a major in finance and is a CFA® charterholder.

Xavier de Nazelle

Head, Corporate & Asset-Based Finance | Member, Executive Committee

Mr de Nazelle is the head of the Group’s corporate and asset-based financing strategy. He is responsible for deal sourcing, due diligence, investment structuring and portfolio management as well as divestment activities. He has over seven years of experience in direct investments and business development in the natural resource, commodity, manufacturing, energy and petrochemical industries.

Prior to EFA, Mr de Nazelle worked with a private equity investorfocused on environmental resources in Asia. He also worked in banking forCalyon, and for industrial groups including Air Liquide, Ineo Suez and PGAMotors.

Mr de Nazelle spent the majority of his life in Asia and graduated with a BS in Management from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management.

Kashama Pascal Nyangombe

Head of Financial Institutions

Mr Nyangombe is Head of the Group’s Financial Institutions investment strategy. He is responsible for deal origination, structuring and portfolio management.

He has over 15 years of experience in banking and Financial services. Most recently, he worked with leading local banks in Africa, focusing primarily on developing Corporate and SME banking units as well as leading Strategy and Controlling teams. Prior to that, he was a director at UBS, working 10 years in business strategy, wealth management and corporate finance.

Mr Nyangombe holds a MA in Business Management from the University of Strasbourg in France.

Geoffroy Ganshof

Research Manager, Multi Strategy

Mr Geoffroy Ganshof has over 20 years of experience in financial and investment management. Previously he was Managing Director of Longitude (Singapore) Pte Ltd, a member of the Longitude Group. Prior to Longitude Mr Ganshof set up Unionhouse Pte Ltd, a fund manager specializing in niche products. Previously, he was the Chairman of the board and CEO of Clearinvest Asset Consulting in Geneva and was a committee member of the Swiss Association of Independent Financial Advisors. Prior to that, he was a Financial Director and founder of SAGC S.A. and CGMS S.A. in Switzerland.

Siti Rasiqah

Head of Communications

Ms Rasiqah is responsible for managing all communications and public relations aspects within the Group, which includes strategic marketing planning, implementation of public relations activities and control of the marketing budget.

She has over ten years of experience in marketing and communications, spanning manufacturing, retail and hospitality industries.

Ms Rasiqah holds a BA in Communications from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Partners

Our Partners

At EFA Group we have developed an excellent network of partners.

UN PRI

The United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Initiative is an international network of investors working together to put the six Principles for Responsible Investment into practice. Its goal is to understand the implications of sustainability for investors and support signatories to incorporate these issues into their investment decision-making and ownership practices. In implementing the Principles, signatories contribute to the development of a more sustainable global financial system.

Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA)

Founded in 1990, AIMA is the global representative of the hedge fund industry. It comprises over 1,500 firms in more than 50 countries. Members include hedge fund managers, fund of hedge funds managers, prime brokers, legal and accounting firms, investors, fund administrators and independent fund directors. AIMA’s manager members collectively manage more than $1.5 trillion in assets.

Association of Independent Asset Managers (AIAM)

AIAM is a non-profit-making organization and a representative body that assists the public and interested parties to foster better understanding of the Independent Asset Manager business model. It sets the necessary Code of Ethics & Best Practice Reference Manual for the best benefits of its members, industry practitioners, clients and regulatory authorities.

Swiss Trading and Shipping Association (STSA)

STSA is the leading professional association for the trading and shipping of commodities in Switzerland. It was founded in 2006 under the name of GTSA (Geneva Trading & Shipping Association). The association currently represents the 150 member companies of the three regional associations, from leading ones to smaller “niche” specialists. Drawing its force from its member base, the Association represents the interests of the commodity trading industry, freighting of goods & financing, and services related to it, in Switzerland.

Singapore Business Federation

The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) is the apex business chamber championing the interests of the Singapore business community in the areas of trade, investment and industrial relations. It represents 24,200 companies, as well as key local and foreign business chambers.

Real Economy

Financing the Real Economy

The real economy is concerned with the physical side of dealing with goods, services and resources. This is contrasted to the part of the economy that buys and sells on the financial markets.